An array substrate is an important component of a liquid crystal display device, and is manufactured by depositing various films on a substrate using a plurality of patterning processes. Generally, a manufacturing method of an array substrate in the prior art includes:
A first step of forming a gate and a gate line on a substrate; a second step of depositing a gate insulating layer on the gate and the gate line; a third step of coating a whole layer of photoresist on the gate insulating layer; a fourth step of exposing the photoresist with a corresponding mask and developing the photoresist, such that a portion of the photoresist in a non-display region and corresponding to the gate line is removed; a fifth step of forming a first connecting via in a portion of the gate insulating layer in the non-display region and corresponding to the gate line by a patterning process, wherein the first connecting via is used for connecting a scanning signal trace formed in a subsequent step (and used for outputting a scanning drive signal to the gate line) to the gate line; and other steps of forming a pixel electrode, forming an active layer, forming a source/drain, and the like above the gate insulating layer.
Wherein, a whole layer of photoresist is coated on the gate insulating layer before the fifth step of forming a first connecting via in a portion of the gate insulating layer in the non-display region and corresponding to the gate line by a patterning process, and after the first connecting via is formed, the residual photoresist on the gate insulating layer is stripped off using stripping agent.
However, when the residual photoresist on the gate insulating layer is stripped off, it is found that since the first connecting via is only located in the non-display region and, a large amount of the residual photoresist (which is located in the whole of a display region and a part of the non-display region) is left on the gate insulating layer after the photoresist is developped, so that a large amount of the stripping agent is required for stripping off the residual photoresist and it is difficult to remove the residual photoresist completely. Thus, a subsequent step is adversely affected and a ratio of qualified products is low.